As Britain makes the most of the warmer weather (finally), for some the summer fun could be dampened by itchy eyes and runny noses.

The Met Office has warned of a 'high' or 'very high' pollen count in London and the south, the Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland.

Around 18 million people in the UK suffer from hay fever, with more developing it every year. You can develop it at any age, even if you’ve never previously shown signs of it.

The symptoms include runny eyes and nose, sneezing, itchiness, feeling run down and bunged up, and can be easily mistaken for a common cold. However, if you have itchy eyes, nose or throat, it’s more likely to be hay fever.

To make sure the pollen doesn't ruin your weekend of warm weather, here are our tips on how to get rid of hayfever...

1. Hot, hot curry

Going for the hottest curry on the menu can help – or if you’re making your own, go heavy on the spices. Turmeric, an orange-yellow spice widely used in curries and South Asian cuisine, is believed to reduce inflammation caused by the enzyme phospholipase A2, which is provoked into action by pollen in your system. Capsaicin, in chillies, helps open up the nasal passages and relieve that bunged up feeling.

2. Hanky panky

Yay - sex can help your hay fever. At the point of orgasm the sympathetic nervous system constricts blood vessels across the body and an Iranian neurologist has suggested that this could help with hay fever. Has to be worth a shot, no? Just don’t try it if you have a sudden attack in the park.

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3. The right salads

Capers, red onions and watercress contain high amounts of the natural anti-histamine quercetin, which can help reduce hay fever symptoms by blocking the effects of histamines. Combine with pineapple, which contains bromelain, which helps the body to absorb quercetin.

Apples, tomatoes and oranges are rich in beta carotene, vitamin C and a substance called bioflavonoids. These nutrients are anti-inflammatory agents and are said to boost the immune system.

4. Red grapes

Dark berries contain antioxidants

Dark coloured berries like currants, blackberries and red grapes all contain high levels of antioxidants, but red grape skin also boasts resveratrol, which reduces inflammation in the body. According to a study into diet and allergy in Crete, grapes were helpful in reducing blocked, itchy and runny noses from hayfever.

5. Stinging nettles

Nettles have long been thought to relieve allergy symptoms, including hay fever. You can buy them as pills, but as long as you have a decent pair of gardening gloves, it’s cheaper just to pick your own and make them into tea. Just boil them in water, then drain and add honey to sweeten.*

6. Fish

Omega 3 fatty acids in oily fish are anti-inflammatory, which could help ease your symptoms. Salmon, herring, mackerel, tuna and sardines are all good sources. Experts recommend three portions a week.

7. Shampoo

Pollen is sticky so if you’ve been out all day (especially if you’ve been suffering) you could be bringing back the yellow poison to the house with you. It’s best to wash your hair when you get home for the evening, so you don’t spread pollen around your house.

8. Chamomile tea

Cooled tea bags can soothe irritated eyes (Image: Getty)

Coffee can exacerbate your symptoms, so swap it out for chamomile tea, which is a natural antihistamine and anti-inflammatory. Drinking it is the best option, but if you don’t like the taste, you can just use the tea bags, soaked in boiling water then drained and chilled, straight on your eyes.

9. Clean sheets

Spending a night in a bed infected with pollen means you wake up up feeling rough (assuming you actually get to sleep). So doing a bedsheets wash as often as possible over the summer will help ease symptoms and let you sleep better.

10. Barrier balm

The barrier balm stops pollen from entering your nostrils

One of the best ways to stop hayfever is by not inhaling pollen. Easy, right? But rather than not breathing, we recommend HayMax - a simple organic drug-free allergen barrier balm. Apply it around your nostrils and the pollen sticks to the balm instead of going up your nose.

11. Throat and nasal sprays

Otrivine Allergy Relief 0.1% Nasal Spray . Newly launched it provides relief from a blocked itchy nose in minutes for up to ten hours. This can be purchased from the following websites -

Prevalin. It’s free from antihistamine and steroids, meaning it’s OK for pregnant and breastfeeding women. "It lines the inside of the nose and creates a barrier blocking irritants. Plus it soothes the symptoms of histamine," says Alison.

13. Ditch the booze

But alcohol is loaded with histamine, which is known to cause an inflammatory response and worsen seasonal allergies.

Even drinking more than one glass a day can cause problems for sufferers, with wine being a particular irritant.

14. Clean clothes

Another way to battle hay fever is checking clothes are always clean. These can contain pollen collected outside. Pegging them outside to dry can even ­contaminate them.

Your hair can also contain ­pollen – as can pet hair. So try to rinse this out when you have spent a day outside.

15. Stinging nettles

Goran Pavlovic says that his sneezy symptoms disappeared once he started stinging himself regularly with nettles.

His supposed cure requires him to pick a bunch of nettles once they start growing in spring and then sting himself once a week until autumn.

(Image: Getty)

“I haven’t had any problems with pollen for three years now,” the Dubliner wrote on Facebook.

But while experts don’t recommend Pavlovic’s idea, stinging nettle-based supplements have been linked with everything from arthritis treatments to hair loss.

The tablets may also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, with preliminary research by the University of Maryland Medical Centre in America, showing they may reduce sneezing and itching in some hay fever sufferers.

Did you know?

It’s not actually pollen that causes all those miserable symptoms - they actually come from you. Histamine is produced by your body when it thinks the immune system is under attack.

When pollen enters the body of a hay fever sufferer, it triggers the production of histamine, which then creates all those unwanted symptoms. That’s why anti-histamines can help. (But histamines are the things in the brain which keep us alert, attentive and awake, which is why anti-histamines can make you drowsy).

Thunder Fever

If you thought that it's hay fever causing you untold misery day and night at the moment, you may be wrong.

Hay fever sufferers are being hit by 'thunder fever'. An affliction which is said to happen when rain brings pollen back down to earth "in bucket loads".